BJP offered to drop cases if I joined it, I said never: Kejriwal

Delhi CM Kejriwal claims BJP offered him party membership in exchange for dropping cases; BJP denies and challenges him.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the BJP asked him to join the party in exchange for letting him off in cases registered against him. The Opposition party dubbed the statement as a “bundle of lies” and its Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva challenged Mr. Kejriwal to either name the leader who made the offer or resign.

The CM’s claim came a day after the Enforcement Directorate lodged a complaint in a court against him for skipping summons for the fifth time in a case linked to the excise policy.

Delhi Police had also served him a notice to join the probe into his allegations that the BJP attempted to “poach” AAP MLAs to topple his government.

At a foundation stone laying ceremony of two school buildings in Rohini, Mr. Kejriwal said he won’t succumb to such pressures despite the BJP-led Centre letting loose probe agencies behind AAP leaders.

“I’m not going to bow before them. They say come to the BJP, we will let [you] off. I said [I] will never join BJP,” he said. “We are only building schools, hospitals, roads and providing water,” he said, adding that these development works won’t come to a halt even if he is “jailed”.

“They [BJP] have hatched a conspiracy, but could not make us bow. If you thought schools won’t be built, they will be built. Even if you put Kejriwal in jail, hospitals will be built, Mohalla Clinics will be built,” the AAP chief said.

Later in a post on X, the Chief Minister asserted that all corruption cases lodged against AAP leaders were false.